...from my next book (in the works):

At the time of my first meeting with Donald Trump, his casinos were going through one of their periodic financial crises. Sitting in the upper-eastside restaurant where we met, I thought it was a damned shame that he was not out of his seat asking for my advice; God knows I would have given him a free-of-charge earful.

Despite the crises, there is indisputable empirical evidence that (at least at that time) his casinos were among the top grossing in the country. Just in 1992, for example, the Trump Taj Mahal out-performed its closest competitor, Caesars, by more than 25%. In fact, the Taj, by itself, accounted for 12.94% of all of Atlantic City’s gambling revenue[i]. Moreover, Trump’s flagship outperformed Resorts International —once the most successful casino in history— by more than 75%.

The “failures”, later much-politicized, in every case, were a function of bondholders, bankers, financiers, and corporate management. Revenue, marketing, player development, and all casino operations were Trump-style over-the-top successes. On the other hand, looking at the financing models, I cannot even remember how many CEO’s the Taj Mahal had suffered (and I wonder if Donald can).

Love him or hate him, it is inaccurate to say that he didn’t run great casinos; and they were masterfully marketed. I know. The bonds, the investors, the bankers —the greed merchants— well, they are another story.

[i]  1992 Atlantic City casino revenue: